A group of Pakistani and Afghan militants have beheaded a Pakistani soldier after pledging allegiance to ISIS, according to a new video released online, copying execution tactics used by the group, Reuters report.
ISIS, which controls areas of Iraq and Syria, has gained a foothold in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the past year, with a number of former Taliban militants setting up a new group purporting to represent ISIS interests in the region.
Little is known about its activities or its size.Little is known about its activities or its size. Yesterday according to reports so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” has started operations in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, KHAAMA PRESS reports.
Based on what residents described to the local residents of Sangin district, a group of insurgents in black uniforms have started movements in the district carrying black flags of ISIS.
It remains unclear whether ISIS-inspired militants hiding on the Pakistani-Afghan border are acting on their own or on direct orders from the IS leadership in the Middle East.
In the latest Arabic-language video, whose authenticity could not immediately be confirmed, a large group of turbaned militants, many on horseback and holding rifles and black ISIS flags, are seen gathered in an undisclosed forested area.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid (R) speaks during a press conference at an undisclosed location in Pakistan on February 21, 2014.
A militant identified by the SITE intelligence group as former Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid is then seen addressing the crowd to announce pledges of allegiance to ISIS from leaders of various groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“We want to inform you that we have brought together the emirs of 10 groups who want to pledge their allegiance to the Caliph Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi,” he said, referring to the ISIS leader.
At the end of the 16-minute video a man wearing a helmet, a T-shirt and combat trousers, identified as a Pakistani soldier, is seen being beheaded with a machete.
According to SITE, those present during the execution included both Afghan and Taliban militants but nothing was known about the beheaded soldier or how he was captured.
ISIS’ radical ideology appears to have inspired many fighters operating across the region, posing a possible challenge to more established local groups such as the Taliban.
But, while some fighters switched sides to declare allegiance to ISIS in the past year, most Taliban insurgents remained staunchly loyal to Mullah Mohammad Omar, an Afghan Taliban leader who has been at the helm of the movement since the 1990s.
Videos of beheadings, popularised by IS, are not commonplace in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, although the Taliban and other local militant groups often resort to similarly gruesome attacks against security forces and civilians.